Modesto raises penalty for Dumpster diving

Beginning in March, Modesto police will be able to arrest people digging through garbage cans under a new ordinance the City Council approved Tuesday night.

The measure passed by a 5-2, vote, with supporters saying it would give police a tool to detain and search Dumpster divers for signs of attempts to commit identity theft. Police further said it could be used to reduce blight.

Council members Janice Keating and Will O'Bryant voted against the proposal, calling it repetitive to provisions written in Modesto's municipal code and excessive.

"Dumpster diving is not a jail crime," said O'Bryant, a retired Alameda County sheriff's detective. "It's a way for people to survive."

The code allows the offense to be punished as an infraction with a $100 penalty, although officers would have to demonstrate the garbage was "salvageable" or "recyclable" before enforcing the code.

Keating said she would prefer to amend that code instead of amplifying the penalty to a misdemeanor.

"We don't have to go from 0 to 80 in one fell swoop," she said.

But the majority of her colleagues wanted to give police the option of arresting people who don't respond to citations, or of searching someone. Those choices would not be on the table if Dumpster diving remained an infraction.

Councilman Garrad Marsh, owner of McHenry Bowl, said people rifling through garbage cans can be a nuisance at his business. He was skeptical that the new ordinance would curtail Dumpster diving, but felt it could be helpful.

"It'll give police another tool they may use," he said. "But it will not solve the problem."

In other business, the council unanimously passed a related ordinance that enhances penalties for drinking alcohol in public parks without a permit.

Like Dumpster diving, drinking in parks is an infraction in Modesto's municipal code.

The council's vote designates the offense as a misdemeanor, punishable by $500 citations and time in jail.

Officer John Habermehl said the heightened penalties would allow police to arrest serious alcoholics and steer them to treatment through the courts.

Two laws police could use for the same purpose come up short, he said.

One, a city code, establishes drinking on a public street as a misdemeanor. The effect of that ordinance is to create a "safe haven" in parks, Councilman Dave Lopez said.

The other law, a state code, would require someone to be demonstrably drunk before police could make an arrest. Habermehl said that provision blocks officers from detaining someone after a first or second beer.

Both ordinances require another vote from the council before they can take effect. Those votes typically are procedural, but residents will have another chance to speak about them in about a month.